


Insect Sting

by Sharcade



Series: Whump Challenge [2]
Category: Camp Camp (Web Series)
Genre: Agony, Crying, First Aid, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Pain, Whump, parental david, whump challenge
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-22
Updated: 2018-10-22
Packaged: 2019-08-05 08:26:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16364354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sharcade/pseuds/Sharcade
Summary: Max, Neil and Nikki disturb something that they probably should have left alone. Max takes the worst of it.(Day 2 of my 30 Day Whump Challenge!)





	Insect Sting

"You really shouldn't be touching that..."

"Whack it! Whack it with a stick!"

"I'm not gonna fucking whack it with a stick," Max muttered, pulling himself up further into the tree. "I'd probably die."

Today had been an interesting day. It had started with a hike - lots of days at Camp Campbell involved a hike. The campers had been split into groups: Nerris, Ered, Dolph, Harrison and Nurf had been sent off with Gwen. That left Max, Neil, Nikki, Space Kid and Preston with David. It had been no surprise to Max that the group hadn't lasted long, it only took a few minutes in the woods for the trio to split from their collective. It had taken even  _less_ time for Max to find himself halfway up a tree, staring down a wasp nest.

"Are you allergic to wasps?"

"No, I-"

"Bees?"

" _Neil,_ " Max snapped. "I'm not allergic to anything."

"He's allergic to cats!" Nikki exclaimed.

"Aren't you allergic to gluten-?"

"I meant nothing like bees or wasps or any of that shit!"

"So what are we gonna do with the wasp nest?" Neil questioned nervously, peering up the tree. 

"Let's throw it in the counsellor's cabin!"

"No," Max huffed, scooting away from the nest. "I'm not touching that shit. Nikki, get up here, you do it."

In a flash, Nikki had scrambled up the tree, sniffing at the wasp nest in a way that made Max think of a wild animal. He wondered constantly how she didn't just get killed constantly poking her nose into danger like that, it wasn't something that Max would risk doing. Mischief was all well and good until he got hurt. While Nikki seemed completely numb to pain and Neil was an absolute pussy, Max fell somewhere in the middle. Did he want to get stung by wasps? No. Had he still climbed the tree? Of course he had.

"Be careful!" Neil called. "Wasps are extremely easily agitated and their stings are-"

"Yeah, they're fucking painful, got it," Max droned, watching Nikki carefully as the other camper snapped a twig from the branch she was situated on. "Way to state the obvious."

"Easily agitated?" Nikki parrotted, wiggling the twig in her fingers thoughtfully. "By what?"

"By loud noises, sudden movements, and-"

"And sticks!" Nikki interrupted, grinning as she fiercely jammed the twig into the hive, the wasps instantly swarming around her arm. "Run!"

"Hey! Wait! What the hell are you-!" Max yelped, gawking as Nikki lept down from the tree, effectively abandoning him. "Fucking- Nikki!"

"Max! Get out of there!" Neil called hastily, hesitation flooding his tone as he weighed the options of helping Max or fleeing.

 " _Fuck!"_

* * *

"David!"

"Uh- Yes, Preston?"

"We're missing three campers!"

David paused his steps, whirling around to look behind him. He didn't have to look to know who had run off, but it still felt like a kick to the stomach when he saw the familiar absence of Max, Neil and Nikki. He sighed; why did he even bother with the buddy system anymore?

"Everybody check for your buddy!" David exclaimed hastily, forcing a smile as he wrapped an arm around Space Kid. "I've got mine right here! Preston!"

"I-" Preston began, quickly looking around him as a quick extra check. "My buddy is gone!"

"Remind me who your buddy was?"

"Max?"

"Well that's why he's gone," Space Kid shrugged, looking up at David expectantly for confirmation.

"Well," David sighed, picking up Space Kid. "I guess we should be walking back then."

"David Car!" Space Kid cheered, pumping a fist in the air.

David chuckled quietly, taking Preston's hand as he began their trek back towards the camp. He assumed that the trio had split off a while ago, that was usually the case, and he would probably spot them on the way back. If not, he would probably find them halfway through an escape when he got back to the camp anyway.

Despite constantly running off with his friends, Max wasn't particularly  _bad_ in David's eyes; there was really no such thing as a  _bad_ child in David's eyes. Children acted in the moulds that they were raised in, and that included Max. Max wasn't the only problem child he had encountered at camp and David assumed that he wouldn't be the last, but he was certainly the most crafty, and while David was proud of him, it meant that he was almost  _always_ getting into elaborate trouble. That worried David to some degree. It helped that Neil and Nikki would usually keep him from going too far, but Max was persistent, another thing that worried David at times.

"Do you think they died?" Space Kid questioned, raising an eyebrow at Preston.

"Ugh! That would be TRAGIC!"

"I-I'm sure they're not dead," David interjected quickly. "Just being rambunctious, that's all!"

" _Fuck!"_

David froze.  _Max._

"Was that Max?" Preston murmured, his eyes darting around against the treeline.

"Holy shit, are you okay?! Max!"

"Neil?!" David called, quickly setting Space Kid down as he hurried to the treeline. "Where are you guys?!"

" _Fuck, f-fuck, fuck! Neil! Get the hell away from me!_ "

"David?!"

David didn't waste another second, bursting through the bushes and rushing towards the sound of Neil's voice. He could hear Max crying out  _loudly_ in pain, a sound he was absolutely  _not_ used to, a sound that had his blood running cold in his veins. Max was hurt. Something was actively hurting Max.

" _Fuck!_ " Max screamed, gasping sharply as David grabbed his arm and yanked him away from the toppled nest.

Pain was erupting violently through Max's body, he had no idea how many times he had been stung by the time David had pulled him back onto the path. The camper was panting breathlessly, his hands practically vibrating with tremors as his body desperately attempted to settle down. He had never felt pain quite like this in his life, a  _burning_ pain that was almost bad enough to make him want to vomit. His body felt like it was on  _fire._

"What happened?!" David questioned quickly, Max practically hyperventilating against the counsellor's chest.

"There was wasps!" Nikki explained hurriedly, gesturing back into the woods.

"No, I know that-" David began, his mind racing. "But those weren't wasps, those were  _hornets._ "

"Is he okay?!" Neil pressed, taking a step back as he remembered Max's previous demand.

David bit his lip. Most people could handle well over a few  _thousand_ hornet stings, but Max was a child. Not only that, but Max was  _small,_ even for his age. That made this dangerous.

"Max, I know you're in pain," David started, dodging Neil's question as his heart hammered in his chest. "I just need you to breathe, okay? Just keep breathing, we're going to get you back to camp."

The words barely registered in Max's head, his heart pounding so hard in his chest that it hurt, everything  _hurt_ , it felt like hornets were still swarming all over his burning skin, it felt like he was dying. Breathe? He could breathe, right? That was easy.

Wrong. The wind was knocked out of him the second he hit the ground - not only had he been swarmed by hornets, he had  _fallen out of a fucking tree._ His body hurt, his lungs hurt; were there hornets in his  _lungs?_ Max swallowed, gasping for breath involuntarily as his body desperately tried to cope with the agony.

"Neil, call Gwen," David instructed, handing his phone off to the camper. "Tell her what's going on, everybody needs to get back to the campgrounds."

David didn't wait for another moment, scooping Max up in one arm and darting off like a bullet towards the camp. Max was going to be fine, it was hornet stings, Max wasn't going to die from hornet stings, and yet for some reason, that fact didn't bring David an ounce of comfort. It was like an instinct, an instinct of panic that triggered at the sound of Max hyperventilating against his shoulder.

"F-Fuck!" Max cried out again, tears brimming fiercely at his eyes as he tried to fight them back. "It hurts!"

"I know, I know," David assured hastily, rushing to the counsellor's cabin as soon as he spotted it. "You're going to be alright."

David kicked the door open effortlessly, dropping Max on his bed as he rushed to the medicine cabinet. Enough kids had been stung by bugs for him to have dozens of salves for the occasion, David not bothering to pick or choose as he shovelled each and every one of them into his arms. He threw in some children's Advil for good measure; it couldn't hurt.

Max took in a few shaky breaths, his breathing evening out as tears continued to streak his face. He could breathe now, that was what mattered, he could breathe, and his body was still  _roaring_ with pain.

"David, fucking Christ," he muttered wheezily. "What kind of goddamn camp are you guys running?"

"You wouldn't have gotten stung if you had stayed on the trail!" David argued, his tone a little harsher than he had meant it to be, a fact he saw in the way Max flinched. "I- Sorry, adrenaline."

"It hurts," Max forced out, his breaths still coming quick and shaky. "F-Fuck, it  _hurts._ "

David frowned slightly, pulling Max's hoodie and shirt off over his head and looking through his collection of medications for his best option. Max seemed to have calmed down to some degree, thank God, but he hadn't stopped crying, a sign that showed David he was still in  _agony._ Hornet stings didn't exactly feel the best.

"David?! Holy shit, is he alright?!"

"Gwen!" David exclaimed, sudden relief overcoming him. "He's alright, just in a lot of pain."

"Kid, what the hell did you do?" Gwen groaned in equal relief, kneeling down in front of the boy.

"It was Nikki!" Max spat shakily. "I didn't fucking do anything!"

"Let's just get you medicated, alright?" Gwen offered, looking over Max with a frown. "Yikes."

"Fuck,  _yes_ , put drugs in me."

"Did we learn a lesson about staying with our trail buddies during hikes?" David questioned hopefully, forcing a smile as he carefully began treating Max's stings.

"I learned not to fuck with hornets, that's what I learned."

"Well, that's a good lesson too," David chuckled tiredly, glancing up at Gwen. "Could we get some ice over here? It'll help a lot."

"Sure thing."

A moment of silence passed as Gwen hurried off to the mess hall, David still searching Max for stings as the camper's chest rose and fell unevenly with his breaths.

"D-David?" Max began, swallowing back another sob of pain.

"Yes?"

"Are you fucking crazy?"

"What makes you ask that?" David replied, looking up at Max curiously.

"You saw me covered in hornets and you stuck your fucking arm in there and grabbed me."

"Well you were getting stung."

"Yeah, but  _you_ could have gotten stung, idiot."

"That would have been alright," David assured, applying a few salves to Max's arm before bandaging it gently. "I wanted to make sure you were safe."

Max gave David a look, a look that David wasn't entirely familiar with quite yet, but one he had seen a couple times before. Max was confused. Max was pleased and hopeful and confused.

"Thanks," he mumbled, averting his gaze from David's.

"Don't mention it, Max."

 

**Author's Note:**

> I now have an official Tumblr! Feel free to stop by and drop a request!
> 
> https://sharcade-involved.tumblr.com/


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